4 Tools for Creating Video Blogs

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Windows Live Essentials

Apple iLife 2011

PowerDirector 9 Ultra

Adobe Visual Communicator 3

Our top pick, this new suite has 11 basic apps, including Movie Maker, which lets you record videos and add music and graphics. You can save the videos as Windows Media files and upload them directly to Facebook and YouTube. We shot, edited, and posted our vlog in 10 minutes. The result was crisp and colorful.cost: Free

Apple’s new software suite, a close second, includes improved iMovie software for shooting and editing video. You can save videos as QuickTime files and post them directly on YouTube or Vimeo. Our vlog looked like a professional newscast, with swirling animations and nifty transitions. The entire process took 25 minutes.cost: $49

The most robust application we tested, PowerDirector offers a wide choice of templates and special effects. You can post videos directly to YouTube and Facebook and export them in a variety of formats. It took only 10 minutes to create and post our vlog. Unfortunately, the result looked washed out, and the audio was a bit out of sync.cost: $99.95

The most confusing program we tested, Visual Communicator cut us off whenever we exceeded our preset recording time. We also had trouble using Adobe’s vlog hosting service. You can save videos as Windows Media files, but you can’t upload them to YouTube. We spent 40 minutes total on the video, which looked unpolished.cost: $399